From the Rev Liz Dawes November 2024

Rev Liz Dawes
Curate, Great Yarmouth Parish

One of the books that I loved as a child was ‘The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark’ by Jill Tomlinson. It’s about a baby barn owl called Plop who, unusually for an owl, doesn’t like the dark. ‘Dark is nasty’, he says to his parents. In each chapter of the book, Plop meets someone who starts to change his mind about the dark: a little boy waiting for the fireworks to begin, an old lady, a scout out camping, a girl who tells him about Father Christmas, a man with a telescope and a black cat who takes him exploring
 
Through these encounters he begins to see the dark as something exciting and not scary at all. As someone who enjoys long summer days, I’ve never really relished the onset of autumn and winter and so, like Plop, look for the things which can brighten the gloom
 
November is an interesting month because it is a season of Remembrance with All Souls and Armistice, but it also heralds the beginning of Advent and on the last Sunday of the church’s year, this year the 24th of November, we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. The feast day is relatively recent and was introduced in the aftermath of the First World War to remind us of Christ’s kingship as a ruler who establishes a kingdom not by military might but by love, justice, and the ultimate sacrifice of himself on the cross. His resurrection is the vindication of his kingship and his ascension as his enthronement. It’s a radiant end to a liturgical year as we enter a period of waiting in the season of Advent. As the days shorten and the evenings grow darker I hope that there will be many things which brighten the gloom and give us sight of Christ’s light in the world, shining in the darkness

Revd Liz

photos courtesy of Great Yarmouth Parish
 

Rev Liz Dawes is the Curate for Great Yarmouth Team Ministry. Liz trained as a Reader in 2014 and has also worked with the CYF team at the Diocese of Norwich.  She was ordained as curate in 2023

The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Yarmouth, and are intended to stimulate constructive and good-natured debate between website users

Click here to read our forum and comment posting guidelines